The Christian call to evangelism is not simply a call to persuade people to make decisions, but rather to proclaim to them the good news of salvation in Christ, to call them to repentance, and to give God the glory for regeneration and conversion.
We do not fail in our evangelism if we faithfully tell the gospel to someone who is not subsequently converted; we fail only if we do not faithfully tell the gospel at all.
-Mark Dever
I recall several months ago Pastor Peter Kim came and spoke at CCM about evangelism. The spiritual discipline of evangelism. The message challenged us, the attendees of CCM, to be Witnesses of God and the Gospel and since that day the simple but vital idea has been seared into my mind as the primary mode of “evangelizing”.
Above I recalled Mark Dever’s conclusion to his book The Gospel & Personal Evangelism, where he challenges his readers of the failure in evangelism. The moment I read his final lines, I had chills up my spine. I argued with myself regarding the merits acquired from my various times of “evangelizing”. But as this war against myself progressed in duration, I realized my extraordinary failure as a witness and an evangel-izer.
Why and How did I come with this self-deprecating conclusion?
I realized the failure as a witness by my inconsistency in living as a proclamation of the Gospel. When I’m on a mission to physically evangelize and talk about God to people I don’t know all seems well and I actually feel pretty good about myself thinking “God should be pleased with me for what I’m doing for him.” (Personal Note: Then I remember Romans 11:35, where Paul asks the rhetorical question of “Who has given a gift to Him that he might be repaid,” hence I am humbled once again) However, if I am not living the same hopeful life, of which is shown through my public declaration of my faith through the advocation for it, but don’t show it outside of that physical arena, I am a failure. This is because my hope in God is shown in partiality. In which, in a physical playing field my hope is shown, where in a setting of a group of friends my hope is not shown. I do have a reason for hope and for that reason that hope must, not by obligation, but out of a shear desire for God, be the shining light, the awakened dawn, and the music amidst of silence to all who are around me.
When my hope is faint to those around me, my hope in God is faint also. When my hope is faint, my obedience to God in respects to Matthew 28:18-20 is questionable. When my hope is faint, evangelism is faint. It is vague, it is unclear, it is indefinite, it is imperceptible. It is gray.
To be an effective witness, it is to have a insurmountable hope in Jesus Christ. And how can we not knowing that God is life’s, as John Piper would put it, Extraordinary Reality. That’s what I want and need to do. To live knowing the awesome reality which is God. Then my hope would be really clear won’t it, as it did with Paul. When as witnesses, our hope is clear and crystal, we are faithfully proclaiming the reason for our hope which is the Gospel.
-Alex Yi
